Heirloom Tomato Bloody Mary

Like I said yesterday, I could not resist the stunners that were these yellow heirloom tomatoes at The Green City Market and thus, they became a Bloody Mary too. What can I say? When Williams-Sonoma asks what unique spin you can put on a Bloody Mary, you go for it. And going for it is always a good move, in life and in cocktails. The proof is in the glass in this case.

First thing’s first: juice these bad boys. I felt like the yellow tomatoes were special in their own right so I kept the recipe pretty traditional on this Bloody Mary with one exception: Old Bay. I have always loved Old Bay but my husband grew up in Chesapeake Bay country and is deeply devoted to this combination of spices. We put containers of Old Bay in our wedding gift bags and I keep small packets of it in a majority of my purses because God forbid we’re out for brunch and a restaurant doesn’t have it for his Bloody Mary.

Anyways.

As a result, I absolutely had to include it in this recipe and I am so glad I did- it adds so much more flavor than celery salt does. To get mixing, I added 2 tablespoons lemon juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce to taste, a Tablespoon of salt, pepper and at least that of Old Bay. I finished it off with Sriracha because I like a little heat at the end of each sip. As always, add, taste and repeat until the flavor is where you want it!

I kept the garnish simple with a single piece of bacon but it was sort of special bacon. I tossed the bacon (turkey, in this case) in a ziploc with dijon mustard, brown sugar and a little bit of maple syrup. Once evenly coated, I put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. The brown sugar mixture caramelized and I had a stick of sweet bacon to pop in the drink instead it being curled up the way it ends up when you cook it in a pan. I also think a skewer with shrimp, maybe wrapped in bacon or prosciutto, would be great with this Bloody Mary and the seafood would play off the Old Bay well. Ooohh, maybe top the Bloody Mary with fresh crab.

Almost as great as the fact that Bloody Mary’s can be made from entirely fresh ingredients? That the weekend is upon us and it’s time for brunch. I’ll have a Bloody Mary, please…